One of the most terrifying and dangerous things that can happen to a family is for their home to catch on fire. Not only is a house fire extremely destructive, but it poses an immediate threat to the family living inside. House fires are a leading cause of death inside the home for families across the country. Typically, when a house catches on fire, the fire spreads quickly, to the point that the family can’t fight it with household fire extinguishers. Often the best chance that a family has to survive a house fire is to escape as quickly as possible. It then stands to reason that the sooner a family knows their house is on fire, the faster they can get out safely.
The best tool a family has for early detection of a fire is a smoke alarm, also known as a smoke detector. Studies have concluded that families that had functioning smoke alarms when a fire broke out had a much higher survival rate than families without alarms whose homes also caught on fire. Those studies have also shown that the more smoke alarms a home has, the safer it is for the occupants inside.
When determining how many smoke alarms a home needs to be safe, certain variables need to be considered, such as the size of the home, the layout of the home, how many bedrooms are present, and how many floors the house has. Building codes for newly constructed homes typically require that each bedroom in a house have a smoke alarm installed. This is because house fires are at their most dangerous when the family is asleep and unable to notice the smell of burning materials. If all of the bedrooms are on the second floor of a house, it is also recommended, and sometimes required in building codes, that at least one smoke detector be located on the first floor as well. This is because a fire on the first floor may not produce enough smoke for the second floor smoke detectors to alarm until the fire has grown too big for safe escape. This problem is compounded if each member of your family sleeps with their bedroom door closed.
The layout of a house should also be considered when deciding how many smoke alarms to install. If your home’s kitchen is in a central location, it may be difficult to place a large number of smoke alarms in the house, as smoke and steam from cooking in the kitchen may set off false positives for the smoke alarm.
It is also a wise idea to consider the location of smoke alarms within each room. Since smoke rises, it is desirable to place smoke detectors on the ceiling of a room in most cases. There are, however, some situations in which this is not the preferred location for an alarm. If the residents of a home can not climb a ladder to change the batteries safely, such as an elderly couple, then placing the alarm on a wall might be a good idea. This is also the preferred location for homes that use evaporative coolers to regulate room temperature, since the moisture in the air produced by these coolers makes the smoke sink a little bit. At no time, however, should the smoke alarms be lower than twelve inches from the ceiling.
Finally, although many popular models of durable smoke alarms can be purchased for ten dollars or less, if you have a larger home, it is worth investigating purchasing a set of alarms that are connected to each other. These wired systems, especially popular to install during new home construction when they can be installed without tearing down walls, will sound all of the alarms in the house if one goes off. This can buy your family the time they need to evacuate safely.
By purchasing the right number of smoke alarms for your home and ensuring they are installed in optimal locations through your house, you buy for your family the peace of mind in knowing that if disaster does strike in the form of a house fire, they will be given the warnings that they need to evacuate the house safely.